*Howard Clark

Nov. 29, 2013: I’ve put together this page on my memories today about Howard as a way of making sure these bits of memory will last, and with all my love for Howard, Yolanda, Violeta, Ismael, and all the people who had the joy of meeting Howard Clark. It’s also for my students, and anyone who happens to have some interest in the kind of anonymous people who fight for a juster world.

News Dec 17 (evening): More on Howard Clark, an amazing human being. This piece is written by two people he loved and worked with, brothers in the struggle to make the world a better place: Andrew Rigby and Michael Randle ♥ ♥ ♥
http://wri-irg.org/node/22778

News Dec 17: we had to create a YouTube Channel because mujerpalabra.net was going to burst, because of bandwith issues. So here are the direct links, too: Video 1, Video 2.

News Dec 16: second video just published (Howard interview)

Updated Dec 15  – More pics at the bottom

“El mito de Narcisa” For Howard and other people I lost…

Prose translation into English: I’m so populated by people I love who are lost forever that I wonder if the myth of Narcissus is one more distortion, that of a deeper myth and vital for those who do not believe in spiritual worlds. Perhaps it was a woman who contemplated herself in the water (that beats, flows and transforms itself) to find in the universe of her eyes the cherished company forever lost.

El mito de Narcisa

Estoy tan poblada de personas amadas
perdidas para siempre
que me pregunto si el mito de Narciso
es una distorsión más, la de un mito más profundo
y vital para quienes no creen en mundos espirituales.
Quizá se trataba de una mujer que se miraba en el agua
(que late, fluye y se transforma)
para encontrar en el universo de sus ojos
la valiosa compañía perdida para siempre.

Nov. 30, 2013: I’m including photos people are sending. The first, one of Howard and Ismael sent in by a dear friend — Martyn Lowe. It’s just after Andrea’s pic. I’m also posting thoughts and comments. Feel free to do so, too.

Dec. 1, 2013: I’m including two more pics Chris Booth sent, with Yolanda and Howard and of Howard’s at 55 Dawes St. If you click on Chris’s name you’ll get to a post in his blog where he attached something Howard wrote years ago. See below… + Reinoud‘s pic, too.

• Estudios avanzados
• Mujer Palabra: Howard Clark Interview
• Yolanda’s letter to people: Compañero del alma, tan temprano
• WRI’s Page of Pics
• WRI’s Book of Condolences
• Peace News on Howard Clark
• The WRI Executive and Office: Howard Clark’s death

My dearest friend, Howard, has just died. After a concert, he went to bed and his heart failed him. He is one of the persons I’ve loved the most, and I learned so much from him that his death physically hurts.

I learned from him endless skills related to organization, I learned about other people from him, and I learned about countless ideas. We used to have heated discussions which ended up in us pretending we were in a fist fight — laughter.

I believe he’s one of the most intelligent people I’ve ever met — rational empathy, that is what he was capable of.

And what blows my heart right now is that he asked little from others, very little. In spite of the fact that he gave lots.

I protest his death, with all my rage. The species needed him badly.

The human species will miss him.

And I’m sending a big hug to Yolanda (the creator of Educarueca), his partner, and Violeta and Ismael, their kids. Also to all the people in our network of activists fighting for a juster and nonviolent human world.

Howard in 1970: “Guy Fawkes – the only person to enter Parliament with honest intentions. That’s an anarchist flag I’m spreading over the Norwich City Hall lions – 1970. Violeta [his daughter] thinks that it’s a girl.”

Howard in 1976: outside the Peace News office in 8 Elm Avenue, Nottingham. People said he looked like a girl, so at the 40th Anniversary of PN he decided to wear a long skirt.

London, 1989: I got to London to volunteer for the Prisoners for Peace Campaign, organized by War Resisters’ International (WRI). Howard, and Veronica, and Chris were the staff then, at this International Secretariat. Volunteers were welcome because there was such a lot of work!! Howard and I were always discussing topics passionately! He was a great opening for me to zillions of things I did not know. One of the people I learned about from him was Myrtle Solomon, whose house I was living in because it had been donated to WRI. Myrtle had been the chairwoman at WRI and had died of cancer. Howard used to tell me we would have loved our mutual company right away. She was a non-dogmatic activist, that created havoc among dogmatic pacifists. Actually, she was a smoker! 😀 And she wasn’t a vegetarian. While staying at a Gandhian site in India, where a WRI international triennial meeting was taking place, she managed to smuggle whisky in her tea flask! 😀 Adorable British lady drinking tea! Another anecdote he told me was that when some activists were moving into a rather violent discussion, suddenly she, who was chairing the meeting, stood up, pulled out her blouse or whatever, and poured a whole jug of iced water over her head. Howard loved to tell stories about Myrtle.

1989. The pics below are in London, at 55 Dawes Street, close to Myrtle’s house. The first was the kitchen, the last floor, where I had my headquarters as a volunteer because although it was not right, they allowed me to smoke here except of course when we were having lunch. Howard and I had just been having a heated discussion, so I was kind of raging furious! 😀 Veronica (who doesn’t look like she does) and Chris had just come up for lunch. In the street, you can see the street market where we often bought apples, or other food. You can also see a poster of the Spanish Insumisión movement (link to one of the groups in this movement: we managed to stop conscription, though we did not achieve the abolition of the military and its replacement with nonviolent ways of problem-solving, but we’re still working on it!!). Actually, I was a good volunteer for developing this contact, because I spoke Spanish fluently! 🙂 And of course there’s a feminist poster, too. This was the place where I started developing my feminist intelligence. And Howard was key for this, too. These adorable people told me, “miX, you should visit Greenham. You’ll probably love it”.

I wrote a story in Spanish about this, and gave a copy to Howard, but we never had the time to talk about it: En el edificio torcido (4 pdf pages). They are also mentioned in a story I wrote about my first 24 hours at Greenham: Llegar a la Puerta Azul (8 pdf pages).

Outside the WRI office with Juan DW, too.

More recently, in Madrid, Howard giving a present to Andreas, who was leaving the WRI office after many years working there as part of the staff. Howard was now the chair of WRI. He didn’t get any money for this of course, in spite of the fact he, like anyone in our society, needed money to live.

Howard and Ismael, sent in by Martyn Lowe: “This is one of my favourite photos of Howard. His death is a great loss to us all.”

Chris Booth: “I’ve made a PDF of “Making Nonviolent Revolution”, I case anyone wants to read it. Howard (as was his way) was a bit scathing of this text in recent years, but for me it was one of the main documents which formed my political philosophy: http://hovercraftfullofeels.org.uk/?attachment_id=548 A perfect blend of anarchism, pacifism and feminism!”

Quote from Making Nonviolent Revolution, selected by Chris.

Pics sent by Chris: Yolanda and Howard in Urnieta, Euskadi, 1995.

Pic sent by Reinoud Doeschot: “Howard Clark was the untiring engine of War Resisters’International for many years. Photo: Triennial Conference in Porec, Croatia, just after the war on the Balkans, September 1998. On the left Howard Clark. He wrote the book ‘Civil Resistance in Kosovo’. He gave peace loving people in Serbia, Croatia and Kosov@ a voice.”

Howard was the chair of War Resisters’ International now and since 2006.

He had a website where you can read about his work: Peace and Collaborative Development Network.

He edited and produced and wrote for a few books:

• Making Nonviolent Revolution
• People Power: Unarmed Resistance and Global Solidarity
• Handbook for Nonviolent Campaigns
• Nonviolent Struggle and Social Defence
• People, Power and Protest since 1945. A bibliography of nonviolent action
• Objetoras de conciencia (publisher WRI)
• CO Women (publisher WRI)

Howard gave me a few books:

One, written by him and other activists, called Preparing for Non-violent Direct Action. I would like to share his dedication, because the fact is that he and I along with many others belong to the saga of anonymous people who have tried to change this violent and unfair human world we’ve created.

London 1990

Dear miX

always learning and helping others learn,
always becoming and encouraging other to be,
you live with passion.

Thanks for renewing my spirit.

With love,

Howard

He also gave me two incredible books by two most powerful writers:

• The Demon Lover. On the Sexuality of Terrorism, by Robin Morgan (español)
• Sister Outsider. Essays and Speeches, by Audre Lorde

I started a video-recorded interview with Hoowee in June 2013 and I hope to publish it on mujerpalabra.net as soon as I can.

Dec. 9: Martyn sends some pics! ❤ 2004

Howard at the 1990 Berlin Council, pic by Wolfram – thanks!

Thomas Hackman and Howard at 55 Dawes Street!, sent in by Chris – thanks!